• 40% of all children below 18 years in contemporary India suffer chronic poverty and deprivation. Of every 100 children born in India, 5 don’t make it to their first birthday, 46% are underweight, 38% are moderately to severely stunted and only 50% complete primary school. (State of the World’s Children 2009, UNICEF)
• Approximately 80% of India’s majority poor can only afford government schools, most of which have poor facilities, lack of qualified teachers, and teachers who are often absent. Of the country’s 1.124 million schools (of which 87% are in rural India), 46,346 primary schools don’t even have a building; 15,791 don’t have a single student; 121,794 have only one teacher; and over 50% don’t have toilets. (ASER 2007)
• Even when teachers are present, they are not necessarily teaching. The PROBE 2006-07 survey found that in 50% of sampled schools, there was no teaching activity at all when the investigators arrived. (PROBE 2006-07 conducted in 5 States)
• Most Indian classrooms are characterized by rote-learning, reciting, and teacher-centered education which does not encourage independent thinking or creativity.
• As a result, little learning actually takes place: 25% of children in class I cannot read basic alphabets or numerals. 42% of children in class V are unable to exhibit the learning and comprehension capability they should have attained in class II. (ASER 2008)
• Denied access to good quality education and to English education, most are unable to even dream of better opportunities for their children, perpetuating a cycle of poverty.

Gyanankur English School was founded to address these challenges.

We believe:

• That every child is created in the image of God and is to be cherished.
• That every child can blossom and succeed when lovingly nurtured.
• That quality education is a critical requisite for social reform and community development in Indian society, in order to break the cycle of poverty.

• Respect of individual human dignity, both of self and others
• Empathy through shared understanding, leading to sacrificial love
• Integrity — a commitment to lives and relationships founded on honesty and excellence
• Collective Responsibility leading to action for the common good
• Team Leadership and Servant Leadership, devoted to the service of others

“Gyan-ankur” means “seedlings of knowledge”. The vision of Gyanankur is to nurture a model of innovative education in Gyanankur School and then to scale that model, in order to have large-scale and lasting strategic impact in Indian education and society.

Our vision for change includes:

• Quality education through a relevant and student-centered curriculum that teaches students to think for themselves, and promotes interactive and life-long learning
• Holistic Development though a joyful and loving environment that nurtures children of all learning abilities to blossom to their full potential
• Serving underprivileged children who would not otherwise have access to such education, alongside some children of more privileged backgrounds, to address negative mindsets and prejudices
• Development in rural and slum communities through individuals empowered to bring about change in their own communities
• Contributing to a worldview shift in Indian education towards more holistic, child-sensitive education

Gyanankur will work towards achieving this vision through multi-pronged strategies:

• Developing into a Beacon School to promote a culture of innovation in the larger education system
• School to serve as a centre for holistic community development to address various needs of the surrounding community
• A Teacher Training Institute to be established within the Gyanankur campus over the next few years, in order to disseminate pedagogical innovations to classrooms throughout India
• Planting a network of satellite schools based on a sustainable, low-cost, replicable model of high quality schools for the poor
• Three-way partnership model between government, private-sector and non-profit
• An Educational Resource Centre to support innovation in satellite schools, other low-resource private schools and in government schools
• Research and networking to disseminate best practices, including simple, low-cost, scalable strategies for bringing about transformation in traditional teachers and schools